The Sims development team has assured fans that the franchise's core values of inclusivity and creativity remain intact following Electronic Arts' acquisition by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and private equity firms. In a blog post dated January 9, 2026, the team outlined future plans, emphasizing single-player experiences and clarifying the role of Project Rene. This comes amid concerns from content creators over the buyers' conservative stances.
Electronic Arts' shareholders approved a $55 billion acquisition of the company at the end of 2025, first announced in September of that year. The deal, pending US government approval, would result in 93.4 percent ownership by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund aimed at economic diversification. The acquisition has sparked backlash within The Sims community, with several prominent content creators exiting the EA Creator Network, citing incompatibilities between the game's inclusive ethos and the documented anti-LGBTQIA+ positions of key figures involved, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and Jared Kushner.
Responding to these concerns, the Sims team published a blog post on January 9, 2026, stating that "the values of The Sims are unchanged." They elaborated: "The Sims has always been more than a game. It’s a canvas for life in all its unpredictable forms…the chaotic moments, the tiny joys, the big dreams, every identity, every version of you." The post reaffirmed the team's creative control, guided by principles of "inclusivity, choice, creativity, community, and play," which continue to shape decisions for the franchise's future.
Looking ahead to 2026, the team described building "a family of new Sims experiences across PC, console, and mobile," with single-player life simulation at the core. They confirmed that single-player PC and console experiences "will always be a part" of the lineup, with more than half of the global development team focused on The Sims 4 and its "next evolution." Project Rene has evolved based on feedback into a "social, collaborative, mobile-first life-sim game," distinct from The Sims 4 and any forthcoming deep single-player title. Playtesting for The Sims Lab persists, involving experimental features like "The Sims Labs: Life Together" and "The Sims Labs: Town Stories."
Separately, EA announced the shutdown of The Sims Mobile, a free-to-play mobile title launched in 2017, with servers offline as of January 20, 2026. No further updates will occur, likely to prioritize new mobile projects.
